I had learned this lesson so many times before. It was the great inner truth that didn't require the support of logic. Every time I loved, I lost, and I was diminished. I wondered how much of me would be left after tomorrow.

Sometimes when we're not paying attention, relation-ships happen. There is no rule that requires two people in love to be exactly alike.

He was unbelievably hard. Everywhere. He was in control, infinitely stronger, and he wanted me to know it. -Ella

It didn't help matters that I was shy and wore glasses. I was never one to stand out in the crowd. I liked to stay in corners. And I was happiest when I was alone reading. That and the good grades I got in school had doomed any chance of being popular with my peers. So it was a foregone conclusion that boys like Hardy were never going to take notice of me.

For thousands of nights I dreamed of making love to you. No man on earth has ever hated sunrise as I do.

When you love a child, you forgive her before she can even ask. Basically you've already forgiven her for things she hasn't even done yet.

And you're not the kind of girl I want." Surely he couldn't mean the fact that I was Mexican. From what I knew of Hardy, there wasn't a bit of prejudice in him. He never used racist words, never looked down on someone for things they couldn't help. "What kind do you want?" I asked with difficulty. "Someone I can leave without looking back.